Contents

History1

Architecture2

Gallery3

See also4

References5

External links6

History

Façade of Jahangir's Tomb in 1880

The tomb is located at Shahdara, Lahore.[2] The region was a "favourite spot" of Jahangir and his wife Nur Jahan, when they lived in this city.[2] When Jahangir died in 1627 in Rajaur, near Lahore, he was initially buried in Dilkusha Garden.[3] But his son Shah Jahan, ordered that a "mausoleum befitting an Emperor" should be built in his honour.[2]

Though contemporary historians called Shah Jahan the builder of this tomb, it is "more likely to have been the result of Nur Jahan's vision".[4] Taking inspiration from her father's burial place, she is said to have designed the mausoleum in 1627.[4] She influenced the architecture and the gardens of the monument as she became a resident of Lahore after Jahangir's death.[4] It took ten years to build the tomb and costed Rs 10 lakh.[4] The construction started in 1627 and ended in 1637.[2] It was "probably funded" by the imperial treasury or, Noor Jahan might have herself funded it.[2]

Architecture

The entrance to the mausoleum is through two massive gateways of stone and masonry opposite each other (to the north and south) which lead to a square enclosure known as the Akbari Serai. This enclosure leads to another one, on the Western side, giving full view of the garden in front of the mausoleum, which is traversed by four bricked canals proceeding from the center, and in which many fountains were placed which are now ruined. The corridor around the mausoleum is adorned with a very elegant mosaic, representing flowers and verses from the Quran.

The mausoleum is a building with one floor. The ground floor has a square shape. Its structure consists of a platform with a tall, octagonal tower and a projecting entrance in the middle of each side. The exterior of the mausoleum, including the lowest stage of the towers, is clad with red sandstone facing with rich panel decoration inlaid with marble decorative motifs. The four corners of the tower, with the white marble cupolas, rise in five stages to a height of 100 feet (30m) with a zigzag inlay of white and yellow marble. The building is divided into a series of vaulted compartments. The interior is embellished with floral frescoes with delicate inlay work and marble of various colours.

Inside the mausoleum is the white marble cenotaph with its delicate and colourful pietra dura flowers.

The interior of the mausoleum is an elevated sarcophagus of white marble, the sides of which are wrought with flowers of mosaic in the same elegant style as the tombs in the Taj Mahal at Agra, India. On two sides of the sarcophagus the ninety-nine attributes of God are inlaid in black. Carved jali screens admit light in various patterns facing toward mecca

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